On a mixed weekend for the NBA, the league’s contenders and pretenders sent viewership in opposite directions.
ABC averaged 2.46 million viewers for Warriors-Sixers on Saturday night and 2.27 million for Nuggets-Celtics on Sunday afternoon, the former down 19% and the latter up 31% from last year’s comparable windows (Nuggets-Lakers: 3.05M; Sixers-Mavericks: 1.74M). (The network did not carry a second game on Sunday due to the Academy Awards, but last year averaged 3.01 million for Warriors-Celtics in its late afternoon window.)
Viewership was also mixed on ESPN, which averaged 1.89 million for Clippers-Lakers and 1.81 million for Cavaliers-Celtics on Friday night — up 62 and 25 percent respectively from last year (Bucks-Bulls: 1.17M; Mavericks-Celtics: 1.45M) and the network’s most-watched doubleheader of the season. Individually, the games rank third and fifth respectively for the season on the ESPN cable networks.
In primetime Sunday night, the network averaged 1.19 million for Thunder-Spurs and 1.09 million for Timberwolves-Suns — down 22 and 23 percent respectively from last year (Knicks-Cavaliers: 1.53M; Thunder-Suns: 1.41M).
It is of course no coincidence that of the six games on ESPN/ABC over the weekend, the three featuring two playoff teams increased double-digits and the three featuring non-playoff squads — the Sixers, Spurs and Suns — declined double-digits.
ABC has two remaining games featuring underachieving teams, Suns-Mavericks this coming Sunday and Sixers-Mavericks the following week.